What started as a fully online baking business is now getting its first storefront in downtown Pullman. Flour Power Bakery, owned by Michaela Heiszler, will have its grand opening on Friday at 3:30 p.m. on Grand Avenue.
Flour Power Bakery started as Michaela’s Sweets, which Heiszler started in 2020. Operating completely out of her own kitchen at her apartment, Heiszler baked everything from cakes to macaroons to cake pops, designing baked sweets for special occasions and even her own wedding. Heiszler said it took a couple of years and moving into a house before her business saw significant growth, but after several years of consistently taking orders online and working to develop her business, Heiszler finally decided to make the move to a physical location.
Heiszler said she did not really look downtown at first because it was expensive, but things began to fall into place for her and her business throughout the summer of 2024. By the time September and October rolled around, she had found Flour Power’s new home.
“Through some connections and serendipity and all of that I found the perfect place,” Heiszler said.
Heiszler was not always the baking specialist she is now though and said she did not grow up learning how to bake. Heiszler graduated from WSU in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, specializing in anthropology, psychology and sociology. She has lived in Pullman ever since and said she started working in childcare after graduation.
Heiszler said she felt the need to find something new, then found a position as a cake decorator at the Moscow Safeway in January 2022, and fell in love with the position. She was told that she could sell baked goods herself, decided to get a cottage food license and took off with Michaela’s Sweets from her own apartment.
While working on Michaela’s Sweets, Heiszler also worked at Roost Coffee & Market until October of 2022 and Lodgepole, a restaurant in Moscow, before quitting in 2024 to fully commit to her baking business.
On January 22, Heiszler officially announced that her business would become a storefront bakery in downtown Pullman, and just under five months later, she is holding her grand opening. In addition to enjoying Heiszler’s baked goods at her store for the first time, the grand opening will also feature a variety small businesses that customers can shop and browse, including Traveling Gnome Coffee, Kenzers She-Shed Magic, EMOTE Colfax and several other local businesses.
“I’ve seen all these people works and I know it’s a tight-knit community of crafters and bakers in Pullman,” Heiszler said. “I thought it would be cool to show some small businesses in Pullman. I know I really appreciated it when other businesses reached out to me to want to showcase my stuff, so I thought I would return the favor.”
For Heiszler, being a part of the Pullman community and moving to the storefront means something bigger.
“My goal is to try something, prove to myself that I can do it and have fun along the way. I’m looking forward to providing a niche that hasn’t been filled before with specialty cakes and breads,” Heiszler said.
The journey, far from a clear path, left Heiszler with a lot to reflect on given her progress now.
“I’m just really grateful to be in the position I am in,” Michaela said. “I didn’t expect to be in the position I was in five years ago.”
Flour Power Bakery is located at 245 S Grand Ave Suite B in Pullman.
